backseat

backseat driver

1. A passenger in a vehicle (not necessarily in the backseat) who attempts to instruct the driver or criticize their driving skills. John quickly became annoyed at Mary's tendency to become a backseat driver whenever he drove her somewhere, so he just began to let her drive.

2. By extension, someone who tries to establish and maintain control over every situation. Primarily heard in US. Although Mary was capable of completing the project on her own, John couldn't stop himself from being a backseat driver and telling her what to do.

backseat driver

Fig. an annoying passenger who tells the driver how to drive; someone who tells others how to do things. I don't need any backseat driver on this project.Stop pestering me with all your advice. Nobody likes a backseat driver!

take a backseat (to someone or something)

Fig. to become less important than someone or something else. My homework had to take a backseat to football during the playoffs. Jimmy always took a backseat to his older brother, Bill, until Bill went away to college.

backseat driver

A passenger who gives unwanted and/or unneeded directions to the driver; also, a person who interferes in affairs without having knowledge, responsibility, or authority for doing so. For example, Aunt Mary drives us all crazy with her instructions; she's an incurable backseat driver. This term originated in the United States in the 1920s, when it was first used for a passenger legitimately directing a chauffeur, and it was quickly transferred to figurative use. Also see the synonym Monday-morning quarterback and the antonym take a back seat.

The part marks the entry of this composite material into the lightweight design of backseat systems and is further evidence of its enormous potential in series production applications," explained Plaggenborg.

Summary: BEIRUT: Forty-eight-year-old Mostafa Saiid Saiid, a Lebanese citizen, was found dead Wednesday in the backseat of a blue Renault Rapid with a license plate numbered 163647/M, the National News Agency (NNA) said Wednesday.

Arizona's cell-phone industry is protesting Phoenix's new law banning texting while driving by proposing a state law that bans all kinds activities that can distract a driver--including eating, putting on make-up and turning around to talk to kids in the backseat.

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